The temperature of her skin shot up, sinking into him, until it felt like their skin was melded. She was burning up in his arms.

Tearing his lips from hers, he glanced down to find flames of violet and gold shimmer up her skin. The tips of her hair glowed ruby red.

It was the most erotic sight he’d seen, his body still buried in her and her dragon fire flickering over their entwined limbs.

He’d never get used to seeing her go up in flames.

The fire swirled around him, binding them as one. It cocooned them in a world that separated the two of them from everything else.

The skin over her waist was flushed, and her breasts heaved, nipples still erect. Her chin was reddened from his beard and her lips swollen.

The color of her irises had deepened to a purple. She was beautiful and vibrant.

He licked her cheek. She tasted of his loving. His scent was embedded in her skin.

His lion growled. She was all his.

“You’ll never catch fire with anyone else. Your dragon fire is only for me.” His voice was rough and dominant, but that was okay.

They were equal. They’d always fight each other and come together and find a balance that was unique and just them. Neither would subdue the other. They’d let each other be as their true natures were.

She tilted her chin and nipped his lower lip. “Only you.”

The fire licked over his skin.

It lit parts of him he’d shut out when his parents had died, when he’d been forced to grow up overnight from a cub to an adult.

His lion had known she was his mate, but being inside her, giving her pleasure and making her his, completed him in a way he’d never thought would be possible.

Pulling all the way out, he angled her hips then plunged inside.

He closed his mouth over hers, absorbing the scream that boiled up her throat.

She throbbed and closed around him as she took him in completely.

A feeling of tenderness welled up, tightening his chest. The tension built in his groin, growing to a crescendo, rushing to take them both to release.

“Come with me,” he whispered against her mouth, licking her lower lip. He thrust into her again.

Her muscles clenched around him, and her shoulders shook. A quiver ripped through her.

Her moisture pooled around him.

Her head reared back, and she bared her neck to him.

He licked his tongue down the column, to the base of her throat. His mouth closed over the pulse that beat there. Her life force thrummed over his skin.

On the psychic plane, the violet fire of her dragon twined itself around the red of his lion’s. The mating bond tautened, throbbed with their joined desire.

Then a tremor rocked his hips, and the muscles of his groin tensed.

A groan rolled up his throat as he came inside her.

Dragging his lips to hers, he closed his mouth over hers, drinking in the cries of pleasure.

His skin, slick with sweat, slid over hers. The breath shuddered out of him.

He placed his forehead against hers and cradled her body to him.

He held her as she trembled. Her chest heaved.

He’d found her. He was never letting her go.

A knock on the door cut through the intimate moment.

Swearing, Cain slid out of her, pulling the sheet over them both.

“It’s Hope,” a voice came through the door.

Eve’s cheeks flushed. She yanked the cover to her chin. “What are we going to do?” Her hair was spread out over the pillow and mussed from his loving. Her eyes were unfocused.

A glow of satisfaction spread through him.

He turned in the direction of the door. “Ah, Eve and I are busy at the moment.”

Eve thumped him on the chest. Her lips widened in a smile.

Her fingers still trembled in the aftermath of her climax. Her skin glowed.

He nipped her lower lip, and her mouth clung to his.

“I am leaving clothes for you outside the door.” There was a pause. “I was told that Cain needed a little more time to heal. I’ll just tell Vance that’s changed, shall I?”

Cain couldn’t stop the chuckle that rolled out from his throat. He was very much enjoying having his dragoness in his bed. “Well, that’s it, the word’s out.”

Eve peered at him over the top of the sheet. “What do you mean?”

He folded his arms behind his neck, nodding to the door. “Shifters love to gossip.” He canted his head, a warm feeling settling in his chest. “Before the evening is out, everyone will know that we are mated.”

“You planned it, didn’t you?” She sat up, forehead furrowed. “You wanted to make sure everyone knew I was your mate.”

“Do you mind?” His body was relaxed. He watched her every move, waiting to see what she did next.

“I’m yours.” She couldn’t have said anything that could have been more perfect.

The tightness in his shoulders dissolved.

His dragoness wanted to stake her claim over him, too, she just wasn’t aware of it yet.

“You’re alive, that’s all that matters.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “Once I reached out through the mating bond to you, our energies balanced each other out.”

She scraped her nails against his scalp.

It sent frissons of pleasure down his spine.

She was already learning what he liked and what turned him on.

He sighed and stretched, every inch of him humming with pleasure. “It’s accelerated my healing power and left me with energy for a whole lot more.” He gripped the nape of her neck. His gesture was intimate and possessive. But he wasn’t stopping himself anymore. “Come home with me. Let me love you tonight, Eve.”